THE COMMISSION HOUSE
411
green cardboard price tickets printed with black figures are
inserted. The record of the active stocks which the board con-
tains, runs vertically, giving the highest, lowest, and last cur-
rent quotations for the day. Above each individual stock
record is usually a red plate, containing the ticker symbol of
the given stock in white letters, as well as its latest dividend
rate. On one side of the board (if the house executes orders
in other stock or produce markets) is a space for stocks listed
only on out-of-town exchanges, and for such speculative and
staple commodities as cotton, wheat, corn, pork, sugar, etc., etc.
The “board boy’* ceaselessly paces up and down in front
of the board, changing the latest quotation by inserting new
cards, as new prices are called out to him by another employee
of the house standing beside the stock ticker, to one side of the
board. This latter instrument, together with the somewhat
similar news tickers containing a record of the latest announce-
ments and events occurring all over the world, fill the room with
a low metallic stuttering. Thus the spectator can see easily and
quickly just what the various markets are “doing.”
Difficulties of Financial Abbreviation.—But to read stock
quotations, considerable technical knowledge is necessary. The
various stocks are each indicated, not by their full titles, but
by a system of abbreviations or symbols which the exigencies
of time and space—both precious in Wall Street—make neces-
sary. Some symbols are obvious enough—even the amateur
might suspect that “PA” indicated the Pennsylvania Rail-
road. But most stock symbols are more difficult to identify
than this, and before they all become at once recognizable con-
stant reference must be had to the explanatory list of symbols
hung near the stock ticker. The amateur’s difficulty is only
increased by the hasty and unintelligible explanations given
him by experts. If he asks to what stock “MN” may refer,
he will probably be told “Mexican Pete,” which is not the
sobriquet of some southwestern desperado but an abbreviated
“See Appendix XVa
